


All We Know

by buildthatwall (gliese581)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Being Rewritten, M/M, Original Fiction, Original Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-10-18
Updated: 2012-04-17
Packaged: 2017-10-24 18:18:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/266455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gliese581/pseuds/buildthatwall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Currently being rewritten.]</p><p>Rumors will always take on a life of their own, and we can't forget that for all we know, we can be wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Everyone knew about Asher Noble. Or at least everyone had heard about how, in freshman year, Asher Noble put the quarterback in the hospital with a shattered knee. So Hunter was justifiably worried about his personal safety when his AP Physics teacher called out a tired "Hunter Matheson and Asher Noble" as she read out lab partner assignments.

When Hunter risked a look towards the back of the room, where the other teen always sat, his eyes met a pair of hard gray eyes staring right back at him. Hunter did _not_ squawk in surprise, but he snapped his attention back to the whiteboard.

Hunter tried focusing on the teacher for the rest of the class, but he could _feel_ the other teen's eyes fixed on the back of his head. The feeling of being watched was incredibly distracting, and Hunter just couldn't focus. The syllabus could have said their grades were entirely based on the final, and Hunter wouldn't have even noticed.

When the bell rang, after what felt like an eternity of fidgeting and twitching in his seat, Hunter haphazardly stuffed his book and notebook into his backpack. He was about to stand up and flee the room when a pair of dark jeans stopped next to his desk. Hunter looked up to see his new lab partner looking down at him with a blank expression on his face.

"Do, uh… Do you need something?" Hunter cursed his anxious stutter and tried to smile. He had a sinking feeling that his smile was coming out more as a grimace.

Hunter barely kept himself from flinching back when the other teen extended a hand toward him and uttered a short, "Phone."

The sudden statement threw Hunter for a second, before he quickly fumbled for his phone and handed it to Asher. The other teen did something to his phone, before handing the device back. Hunter noticed he had a new entry in his contacts.

"You have my number and e-mail, since we're stuck with each other and all." Without further explanation, the older teen hiked an Army backpack over his black jacket and walked out of the room.

"O-kay, nice of you to do that." Hunter tucked his phone back into his pocket and grabbed his bag, before shuffling out of the room and into the crowded hallway.

The first day of school was always the busiest, and it was the craziest after the final bell. Hunter dodged students running to catch their bus, other students pushing towards the athletics field, and everyone else trying to get out of the building as fast as humanly possible. Hunter was glad that he was getting a ride from a friend and that the Engineering Club met in the mornings, otherwise, he'd have to be in the middle of the melee.

His ride home was waiting for him in the parking lot when Hunter made it through the gauntlet, more or less intact. Aaron hopped off the chipped hood of the beat-up station wagon when Hunter got close. Aaron ran a hand through his short blond hair and unlocked his car. "Dude, what took you so long?"

"Sorry, had to swap contact info with my lab partner." Hunter tucked his backpack into the back and dropped into his seat with a tired sigh. He just wanted to go home and sit in front of the TV for the rest of the day.

"I have so much homework already." Aaron turned the ignition and backed out of the parking space as Hunter pulled on his seatbelt. "God, I hate first days."

Hunter couldn't agree more.

  
**********

  
Hunter scratched Zero's head when the Border Collie clambered around him for attention. Hunter sent a quick "Mom, I'm home!" back towards the kitchen and stumbled up the stairs to his room. Zero scampered back into the kitchen at the sound of a can being opened.

He dropped his backpack on the bed and was changing out of his hoodie, when his mom knocked on his door. He let out a muffled "come in" as he finished pulling the sweater off.

His mom pushed the door open and stuck her head inside. "You have a nice day at school, kiddo?"

"Wasn't too bad, but I have a stack of homework to start already." Hunter threw his hoodie into his closet, then turned towards his desk and clicked on his desktop.

His mom picked up the discarded hoodie, grabbed an empty coat-hanger from the full closet, and then put the sweater away properly.

"You sure you're not overdoing it with four AP and honors classes, honey?" Even though she was a professor by degree, his mom never pushed him to take all honors and AP classes. She always said it was up to him which classes he should take, as long as he graduated and got into a good university, if that's what he wanted to do after high school. "I don't want you to burn out."

"Nah, half the homework is due a week from now, anyway. Plenty of time to finish if I get started early." He never understood why his teachers always gave out homework like he was taking only that one class. He had five other classes to worry about, damn it.

"Okay, I'll leave you to your work, then." His mom closed his closet and went to step out of the room. "Oh, and your dad called, he's coming home early, for once, and bringing Chinese on his way."

His mom always joked that she was married to a man with a mistress. His dad always either came home after midnight or brought home a box of paperwork to do. Hunter could count the number of times his dad came home for dinner, much less one where they all ate together as a family.

Hunter grabbed his headphones from his desk and plugged in. "Call me when he gets home?"

"Sure thing, honey." His mom left his room and headed back down the stairs.

Four hours later, barely finished writing half of his AP World History paper, Hunter all but ripped his headphones off and ran out of his room at the sound of his dad calling out that dinner had arrived. He wasn't used to having lunch before noon and his stomach was growling at the promise of greasy Chinese.

His dad had already hung up his coat in the hall closet, and was locking away his badge and gun when Hunter hit the first floor. He had a box, but it was filled not with papers, but with delicious carbs and protein.

"I don't know whether you're glad to see me or the food, buddy." His dad laughed as he pulled out the take-out containers of chow.

Hunter hummed in reply and dumped some greasy fried rice, sweet-and-sour pork, and crispy beef onto his plate. He groaned at the first bite and started shoveling food into his mouth with his fork.

"So, busy day?" His mother carefully measured out her portion and picked up a pair of wooden chopsticks.

"Eh, it's almost time to get ready for another budget fight. The county wants me to find more cuts than I already made this year." His dad always said, he did everything to get to the top of the Sheriff's department and, now, he wanted to go back to being just another lowly deputy. If only so that he could avoid planning and then trying to sell a budget to the county officials. "What about you, Hunter? Anything exciting happen, today?"

Hunter paused and swallowed. "Not, particularly? I mean it's school, dad." He shrugged, grabbed his glass and slowly gulped down his water.

"Oh, but about that car you guys keep promising me."

Both of his parents rolled their eyes and groaned at the old car argument Hunter always brought up.

"How about you take Zero for his walk, first."

  
**********

  
School the next day was a bit calmer than the flurry of activity the day before. The parking lot wasn't as full of honking and tire screeching, as Aaron pulled into an empty spot near the far end of the lot.

A sleek, black Chevy Camaro pulled up next to them as Hunter grabbed his backpack from the back seat of Aaron's car. Hunter startled when he saw Asher Noble, his lab partner, his brain reminded him, in the driver's seat.

"Hey, have you seen my…" Aaron stopped and his jaw dropped as he noticed the car that had pulled up next to them, too. "Holy shit, that's a fucking Camaro."

Asher climbed out of the car, arched a dark eyebrow at Hunter staring at his Camaro, and locked the coupe, before throwing on a jacket and heading towards the main building.

"Dude, I'd touch that car, but I'd probably lose an arm for doing it." Hunter didn't know how to respond to that, because he wasn't positive Aaron wouldn't really lose a limb.

Seeing Asher in the parking lot that morning must have done something to his internal radar, because Hunter saw the other teen everywhere. Hunter found him reading a book in the corner of AP World History, because apparently TAs got it easy the first week, lounging in the back of his Pre-Calculus class, and saw the unmistakable Army backpack bobbing in the halls.

"Dude, should I be worried about how we're constantly running into that Asher guy?" Aaron asked as they saw Asher head up the stairs to the third floor. "And I heard Jeffries made you two lab partners. Nice knowing you, man."

"He hasn't actually done anything more than give me his number and e-mail." Hunter felt strangely peeved at the automatic assumption that Asher was volatile. "He's just doesn't talk much, from what I saw."

Aaron just shrugged at the idea. "Still, better you than me, buddy."

There was a giant seating chart taped to the door of his Physics classroom, when Hunter trudged towards his last class. It had him near the middle of the back row of desks, with Asher on his right. Hunter briefly wondered if his teacher lived to torment them. First assigned lab partners, now, assigned seats. This was just cruel.

Hunter found Asher already slouched in his seat and headed towards the other teen. His partner barely noticed him slipping into his own seat. Hunter debated whether or not to try and introduce himself, but decided if Asher wanted to speak to him, the older teen would have already done so.

Their Physics teacher immediately steamrolled into her lecture after the bell rang, pointedly ignoring the few hands in the air. Her hands flew around the whiteboard, writing some equations and then deriving more complex equations, and Hunter was barely keeping up with her breakneck speed. It didn't help that her chicken scratch handwriting was _shrinking_ as she went on and she wrote up to the edge of the board.

Hunter had to lean halfway out of his seat and squint at the board to copy down a statement that she had said was important. Of course, his lab partner didn't have any trouble looking over everyone's heads. Hunter was surprised the basketball coach wasn't begging Asher to join the team.

Hunter barely caught himself from tipping over onto the floor, desk and all, during one of his more frustrated movements. He had to take a breath to calm his thudding heart and frayed nerves. He almost jumped out of his skin when a finger poked him in the shoulder.

Asher shot Hunter a tired look and pointed down at the notebook that he'd turned so Hunter could see his notes and, particularly, the equation he had almost brained himself for. The handwriting was clear and there were even helpful notes, like, _CALC REF: if position is x: velocity is v = dx/dt and acceleration is a = dv/dt_ , written in the margins.

"Thanks." Hunter whispered back as he copied the equation from Asher's notes.

Asher just grunted back a reply and continued writing down lecture notes as the teacher sped on, unaware her teaching style was almost Darwinian.


	2. Chapter 2

Hunter didn't have time to really worry about Asher's reputation when school started up in earnest, but what little time he did devote to the subject left him feeling like something wasn't adding up. As far as he was concerned, Asher didn't seem like the angry, dangerous guy everyone at school apparently thought he was.

Sure, Asher didn't go out of his way to engage him in conversation, but that didn't mean he was completely antisocial. Hunter always got a nod of recognition in the mornings when Asher pulled into his parking spot, and a low _hey_ whenever he greeted Asher. So he had no idea how to react when Aaron started talking about what the basketball team was saying about Asher.

"I heard the only reason he's not in juvie is because the other guy's family got paid off." Hunter ignored Aaron and plopped down at their usual table. Lauren looked up from fiddling with her phone to shoot them a questioning look. "Who's not in juvie?"

Hunter sighed and said "it's nobody" at the same time Aaron said "his lab partner, Asher Noble."

"Oh hey, I think he's in my AP US History class. Tall, black hair, and really quiet, right?" Mark, Lauren's boyfriend, popped up next to the table and handed Lauren a plastic bottle. "And I got you your green tea."

Mark looked like a raccoon with his nearly bloodshot eyes and dark circles. Hunter had never seen anyone look that bad and still _function_. "Man, did you not sleep for the entire week or something?"

"He's been playing his game all night." Mark had the good graces to look sheepish when Lauren rolled her eyes and answered for him.

"But what were you guys saying about that Asher guy?" Mark winced when Aaron helpfully provided him with the news. "Yeah, he's one unnerving dude."

Hunter took a big bite of his chicken sandwich and just shrugged when Aaron prodded him for a reaction. He knew there was no way they'd just take his word that Asher wasn't like the rumors said he was. The best Hunter could do was not add to the rumors. After all, the first law of high school was: the more you fight against a rumor, the more you get tangled up in it.

Aaron gestured at Mark with a soggy french fry. "You were a freshman then, too, right? You have to know something."

Mark scratched his chin for a couple minutes, seemingly deep in thought, but he apparently came up short. "All I really remember is the police Chief and Hunter's dad at a random assembly about violence prevention or something."

Aaron took a second to swallow his food and take a gulp of juice. "They might have had the assembly because they didn't want another incident after what Asher did."

"He's not like that, okay?" Hunter finally interrupted. There was not adding to the rumors, and then there was not standing up for a friend when the rumors were probably blown out of proportion. "And anyway, don't you always complain that your team captain's full of crap? He's probably wrong about the juvie thing, too."

Aaron balled up his napkin and shrugged. "Yeah, but if everyone's saying the same thing, there's gotta be some truth to what they're saying, right? I mean it can't be a coincidence that Asher gets suspended and your dad, _the sheriff_ , comes to do an assembly. Just trying to look out for you, bro."

He knew Aaron was trying to help in his own way, but all the talk about how Asher was a criminal or something made him feel uncomfortable and antsy. The bell saved him from having to find a way to explain exactly why he didn't want to talk about Asher. "Whatever. I have to hurry if I'm gonna make it to physics, I'll see you after school, alright?"

Grabbing his backpack, he hightailed it out of the commons before Aaron could answer. He wasn't exactly lying about needing to rush, the math and science building was on the other side of school and he didn't want to be late - he'd already used up his single warning and his next tardy would land him in detention.

As usual, Asher was already in his seat and had his binder open to a new page when he crawled into the classroom. Hunter barely had time to sit down and unzip his backpack before his teacher started talking. Asher was kind enough to pass him a handout after he got settled.

"I hope you all got to know your lab partners over the last few weeks, because I'll be assigning term project topics, today." There was no way he'd heard that right - _a term project_?

Apparently he'd heard right, and each lab team was apparently supposed to turn in a 25 page research paper on whatever topic they were given and do a fifteen minute presentation about it on the last week of classes.

There was no doubt in his mind, right then, that it was going to take a miracle, or a miracle worker, to survive the year. He wondered if Asher was either of those things.

~~~~{ }~~~~

Looking for books on the Manhattan Project at the public library was not how Hunter had pictured spending his Saturday. A mountain of snacks and Mass Field 3 was how he'd imagined his weekend, not biking across town to work on a class project. At least he got some fresh air because of it, or something.

"Ok, I found the one book they had on Oppenheimer and two on World War II the librarian suggested. You find anything?" There was a muffled bang when he dropped the books on the table, but Asher didn't even look up from his laptop.

"Found some online sources on the U's website." Asher clicked something and turned the laptop around to show him. "They have a class discussing the physics."

Hunter paused, because those were the most words he'd heard Asher speak in a single conversation, before shifting his eyes down to the screen. There was an open pdf with _Lecture 4 - Manhattan Project: A Physicists' Perspective_ at the top. "Hey, you think maybe the U's libraries have more research stuff?"

Asher shrugged, and, surprisingly, talked again. "They probably do, but we can't check 'em out."

"Actually, if we can make a list of books, my mom can probably check them out for us." Asher raised an eyebrow, like he was going _your mom?_ at him. "She's an adjunct professor there."

"If she can, yeah, it won't hurt. Those," Asher pointed to the stack Hunter had brought, "won't really tell us all the details we'll need."

"Cool." Hunter pulled out a chair and plopped down on it. The library's heat was cranked up because it was starting to get chilly, and he was burning up inside his hoodie. "So, how should we split this up? Paper or presentation, first?" Asher shrugged at the question. That was getting old, fast. Especially now that Hunter knew Asher could speak in whole sentences.

In the end, they didn't get much done after that, other than copying down the two or three pages of background they needed. It got increasingly hard to try and parse a chapter on theoretical physics when a swarm of kids came into the library.

"Hey, so do you want to meet up again after I get those books from my mom?" He asked, packing his stuff and then moving to grab the books. "Somewhere a little _calmer_. Like maybe one of our houses?"

Asher paused for a second, his mac tucked under his arm, before nodding. "Sure."

~~~~{ }~~~~

Hunter gingerly slipped into the leather interior of the Camaro after Asher unlocked the doors. Unlike every other car he'd ridden in before, Asher's car didn't have old candy wrappers littering the floor or smell like old gym socks. Granted, the car was a Camaro and it was probably a requirement to keep it spotless at all times. Even the rumble of the engine coming to life was otherworldly to his ears. If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn he saw a smirk on Asher's face.

They lapsed into a companionable silence as Asher eased the Camaro out of the parking lot. It looked like Asher didn't have anything to say, and he wasn't the most talkative of guys either. The only reason his social life wasn't a complete wasteland was because he'd known his friends since childhood. When he actually thought about it, having Asher as a lab partner wasn't the worst thing that could have happened to him.

He didn't know what to expect when they pulled up to the middle school. The Camaro seemed even more out of place among the family cars than it ever did in the high school parking lot. This must have been a regular occurrence, though, because none of the parents paid them any extra attention.

"So," he started, watching rainwater roll down the windshield, as they waited in front of the building, "what's her name? Your sister, I mean."

Asher looked at him for a second, and Hunter fidgeted under the gaze. "Her name's Meghan."

There was another pause between them; it seemed their conversations were full of those. "Do you have any other siblings?" He tried.

The question must have hit a nerve or something, because Asher's entire body went rigid and his knuckles went white where he was gripping the steering wheel.

They were saved from stumbling on any more land mines when the bell rang and the double doors opened in a deluge of middle school students. There was jerked movement from the driver's seat as Asher stepped out of the car. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and promptly jumped out of his seat when a girl pulled open the passenger side door.

The girl, Meghan, He was guessing, couldn't be older than eleven and had the barest of resemblances to her older brother. Where Asher had soot black hair, she had brown. Her eyes were a dark shade of blue to Asher's gray. She didn't even have the permanent disinterested look her brother had.

"Are you Hunter?" she asked, climbing into the back of the car. She was small enough to fit through without him having to move his seat. "I heard Asher talking about you to pops and grams. Are you a junior like he is? Or are you a senior? Sophomore? You can't be a freshman."

Asher plopped back into his seat by the tail end of the barrage of questions. "What did I say about bombarding people, kid? And buckle your seatbelt."

"Oh, are you Asher's boyfriend?" He choked on his own spit at both the sudden question and that Asher was at least open to the idea of a boyfriend - and he _didn't_ perk up at the mention of boyfriend.

Meghan just smiled innocently when Asher let out a warning "Stop. He's a friend."

Hunter somehow got his coughing under control when the car came back to life. He noticed that Asher's cheeks were ever so slightly colored in embarrassment. That was interesting. His initial impressions of the guy made it seem like he was unflappable.

"Did you know he won't let me date anyone? He and pops tag-team to scare off everyone I want to date." Being asked invasive questions apparently meant that he was also privy to her personal conversations.

"That's because you're way too young to be dating and you wanted to date that Ryan kid." Asher ignored her when she tried to correct him with a "his name was Reese."

Meghan looked him over with a sharp eye. "What do you think, Hunter? You think I'm old enough to date?"

His brain locked up at suddenly being pushed into the conversation and his palms were getting sweaty. "Err. I don't know?" He answered diplomatically.

The familial resemblance between the siblings shined through when they both shot him a look of betrayal and hurt. Asher's look made his heart thump in his chest.

The rest of the ride went by without any further awkwardness, and as they pulled into a residential entrance bracketed by a pair of large evergreens, he was laughing at something Meghan was saying. Even Asher cracked a smile once or twice, which did even weirder things to his body.

The private road gave way to a good sized yard and a large craftsman home. Everything looked well-kept. The paint on the house seemed new, the lawn was cut short, and the sizeable concrete driveway was clean and clear.

An aged woman came up to them after Asher parked the Camaro and they moved to climb out of the car. "Asher, your grandfather needs your help ordering those parts the shop needs."

"Sorry, you mind if I take care of this?" Asher asked, turning away from who was most likely his grandmother. "We can get started on the project after I help him with whatever he needs."

What was he going to say? No? "Sure, no problem."

"Oh! I didn't see you there." Asher's grandmother said, shooting Hunter an apologetic look. She had Asher's, or more precisely, Asher had her, gray eyes. "Hunter, yes?"

"Yes, and thank you for letting me come over, tonight." His mom would kill him if he was anything but polite.

"Junior hardly brings his friends over." The older woman confessed, as Asher went straight into the interior of the house. "His room is up the stairs and immediately on the right, dear. Get comfortable and I'll get you a soda."

"Thank you, ma'am." He mumbled with a smile. A laughing "call me Angie, dear," echoed from the kitchen.

The room was more than twice as big as his own, but it mostly looked the same. A large bed took up one wall and a desk, with a pretty new laptop and custom looking desktop sitting on top, took up another. The only difference was the lack of posters on the wall and the addition of a sitting area with a widescreen TV and a game console.

Curious, he went to examine what games Asher had. There was an open case with "Modern Advanced Warfare 3" splashed across the front - the same game Mark had said he'd been staying up to play.

A picture next to the TV caught his eye. There was a man, who was either Asher's dad or maybe an older brother, dressed in Army camo holding a smiling little boy who had to be Asher. He nearly toppled the thing over when the door swung open and Asher's grandmother – Angie, his brain corrected – came in with a can of Coke.

"I'm afraid it might take Junior some time to get finished. You're free to watch TV while he finishes up, dear." Hunter accepted the can from her and put his backpack down next to the coffee table.

~~~~{ }~~~~

"You should show your friend what you're working on in the garage, Junior." Asher's grandfather said when Hunter came back from the bathroom, after dinner. "Junior, here, is building a dune buggy."

Hunter turned towards Asher, who was rinsing and then loading the dishes into the dishwasher. "Oh cool, can I see?" 

"Sure." Asher said, wiping his hands on a dishtowel and then closing the dishwasher. 

Hunter followed as Asher took him back towards the front door and led him into a huge attached garage. There was a stripped down body of a '67 Camaro closest to the door, but what really caught Hunter's eye was a half-opened crate at the far side of the garage.

"Wow." Hunter couldn't help but say, when Asher moved a puzzle of metal parts out of the box. "You're actually building it?"

All Hunter got was a shrug of the shoulders and "I just started unpacking it. Building it comes a little later."

Hunter still had a couple hours before his 11 o'clock curfew when Asher finished showing him around and he told Asher that he probably needed to head home. With both of Asher's grandparents yawning every couple minutes, it seemed like the polite thing to do.

The adults were adamant that he was a welcome guest to their home, as he was ducking into the Camaro. He promised that he'd come over with Asher again, sometime, which seemed to satisfy them, because Asher's grandfather told Asher to drive safe.

Except for the engine, the Camaro was silent as they pulled into the lit public streets. It wasn't an overwhelmingly uncomfortable silence like it had been when he first got in the Camaro that afternoon. It was more a companionable quiet moment as they drove through the streets.

To his surprise, Asher broke the silence first. "Hey, your friend's the one whose car broke down on Tuesday, right?"

Only a few students at school actually had a new car, so a car breaking down in the student parking lot wasn't exactly rare, but the way Aaron's car broke down was the most memorable.

The day started out fine when Hunter climbed into the car that morning. Sure the engine rattled a bit and the brakes squeaked, but that was _normal_. Everything went downhill when they were pulling into the parking lot.

Thick black smoke started coming out the tailpipe, which wasn't the best sign in the world. Then both Aaron and Hunter had the same reaction of "oh fuck we're gonna die," when Aaron's car let out a thunderous bang and gave up _in the middle of the road_. The rest was a blur for Hunter, all he remembered was a lot of angry honking and pushing the old Subaru with his noodle arms.

Hunter turned his gaze to look at Asher and nodded. "Yeah, uh, why?"

"We have it at the shop, but it's gonna be out for a while. We're trying to track down a new transmission." Apparently it was a small world, if Aaron's car was being fixed at Asher's family's auto shop. "You probably need a ride, right?"

Unless he wanted to walk, or do something lame like take the bus, of course he needed a ride. "Yeah, probably."

"I can give you a ride until it's fixed, if you want." Hunter had to turn his head at that. "As thanks for putting up with grandparents. They mean well, but sometimes, they're a bit much."

Who was he to turn that down? After all, everything he'd seen that day shot the rumors about Asher full of holes.

"Dude, that's nothing. Wait until you meet my parents." Hunter said, waving his hand at the apology. "But, if you're offering to pick me up, I'm all up for that."

Asher nodded and his eyes flickered to Hunter's face for a second. "Your dad's the sheriff, right?"

"Yeah, count yourself lucky he's usually gone by the time you have to pick me up."

~~~~{ }~~~~

As promised, Asher's Camaro pulled up Hunter's driveway on Monday morning. Not as promised, though, Asher showed up almost an hour early - early enough to catch his mom's attention.

The driver's side window rolled down when Hunter tapped on the tinted glass. "My mom wants you to come inside and have breakfast, if you haven't already."

There was a beat when he thought Asher was going to decline, but it passed quickly and Asher rolled up the window and popped open the door. He waited for Asher to lock his car, before leading him up the driveway and into the house.

Hunter led him down the hallway to the kitchen. "Hunter mentioned you offered to pick him up, the least I can do is feed you." His mom said when they got to the table. "I hope you like waffles."

"I do, thank you." Asher was as polite as ever.

Hunter’s mom intercepted him with a knowing look when he headed to the stairs, after he finished eating. The last time she'd had that look in her eyes, his dad had given him the most awkward sex talk ever. "He's a nice boy, Hunter."

Hunter felt the blood drain from his face. "What?" He whipped his head around, checking to make sure Asher wasn't anywhere where he could hear them, before turned towards his mom. "Where did you -" 

His mom held up a hand to stop him. "I'm just saying he's a nice boy." Hunter knew beyond a doubt that she was implying something more, when her smile got wider, but she gently pushed him up the stairs before he could say anything else. "Go get your stuff. You don't want to keep him waiting."

Asher was hanging around the foyer when Hunter thumped back down with his jacket and backpack. Hunter saw him straighten up from where he was looking intently at the family photos on the wall and turn towards him. "You ready to go?"

"Uh, yeah."

Hunter kept expecting something to change in Asher when they got to school, but nothing did at first. What he hadn't expected was everyone else's reaction to him climbing out of the Camaro. There were people not-so-discreetly shooting them looks and that was what made Asher's face morph into the usual bored expression he had at school.

~~~~{ }~~~~

Aaron's eyes almost popped out of their sockets, when Hunter came up to the table with a reluctant Asher in tow. Asher's looked as impassive as ever, but Hunter could see his grip on his camo backpack tighten almost imperceptibly and Asher's jaw clenched and then loosened - he was nervous.

The tension broke when Mark turned his half-crazed eyes towards Asher. "You're in Lawson's AP US History, right?" Mark jumped to his feet when Asher nodded in the affirmative. "Did you get whatever he was mumbling about during lecture?"

"Yeah, I think I did." Aaron scooted over to make room so they could sit down. "You want to see my notes?"

"You're a lifesaver, dude." The table lightly shook, and by the overly innocent look on her face, Lauren must have kicked her boyfriend's shins. "Oh yeah, I'm Mark. Nice to meet you, man."

Nothing in Asher's body language told Hunter that he was nervous anymore, as Asher unzipped his backpack and pulled out a spiral notebook. Hunter ignored Aaron's shoulder nudge and pulled his lunch out from his bag, opening his soda and taking a sip.

"You wouldn't have to bother people for notes if you stopped playing that game and actually slept once in a while, you know." Lauren told her boyfriend, as Mark shut his notebook and pushed it to the side.

Mark took a viscous bite out of his pizza. "This one stupid mission is driving me crazy. _Impossible Odds_ is right, it's impossible."

Hunter remembered that he'd seen the same game on Asher's shelf. "Hey Asher, did you beat that level?"

Asher paused from bringing his water bottle up to his mouth and nodded. "Yeah."

Hunter barely kept from smirking when Mark loudly demanded to know how Asher did it, even Aaron looked impressed. Lauren looked at him sideways with a glint in her eyes that Hunter didn't recognize.


End file.
